Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

urbanesatan The most unrealistic piece of garbage I've ever seen. Why did I waste 2 hours watching this god awful sandwich of poop. The movie started off pretty well but the plot suddenly turned into a classic C grade movie. I don't even know if I can write 5 lines of text for this dumb movie. Even fourth graders would laugh at this whimsical fantasy of nonsense. Narnia was more believable.

Scarecrow-88 "If we don't have dreams, then we have nothing." Seriously, what a nice little surprise! Took a chance on this and glad I did! Billy Bob and a gem cast make this hard-to-believe film work. BB stars as Charles Farmer, an aerospace genius who was discharged from the Air Force before getting his chance to be an astronaut, having built a rocket in his barn (!) with plans to launch it once he can get the necessary fuel. From junk parts of a "rocket graveyard" (planes and metal scraps), Barber built his rocket in the barn and when the FBI come calling to see if he is building a terrorist warhead, he enlists the aid of Kevin Munchak (Tim Blake Nelson) who brings CNN and a new media deluge out of the woodwork, providing much attention to his mission. Obviously many tell him he's incapable of doing the launch or just plain nuts for even thinking of attempting it, but Charles Farmer is undeterred. His main problem, besides FBI agent Kilbourne (Jon Gries, in one of his best parts in years) always tailing him and keeping a watchful eye on him, is increasing debt with mortgage problems and the government not wanting him to do something they don't sanction.First, this cast. Virginia Madsen, who is capable of still being sexy yet such a great actress she can sink into such a rural waitress mom-of-three part less glamorous. The great Bruce Dern as Madsen's dad, aging and supportive of his son-in-law but concerned that the build of the rocket shop will do more harm than good. JK Simmons as a government bureaucrat who warns Farmer he'll never launch his ship into space and could very well be blown out of the sky before leaving orbit (!) if he decides to do so. Bruce Willis as a relative and former astronaut who isn't persuaded that Farmer will accomplish what he plans to do. Max Thierot as the son who totally believes in his father and will be "mission control" when the launch happens."I don't know. I think they're pretty good at assassinating people that have dreams." Despite all the odds Farmer might just achieve his American dream. The film's Midwest (and sometimes harsh, considering the foreclosure development against Farmer as the bank wants payment long overdue) and quirky rural setting with its unique brand of locals (played by some really fun faces) is directed lovingly (and often breathtakingly) by the Polish Brothers (Twin Falls Idaho; Northfork). After an attempted launch goes horribly wrong, resulting in his rocket nearly killing the camped-out media and himself when the capsule crashes off a cliff into rough terrain, the publicity for the astronaut farmer dissipates and the government (FAA), behind Simmons' haughty and prideful press conference towards "amateurs seeking to do what the pros are only capable of", believes Farmer is done with his fantasy. This film, whether you might consider it hopelessly romantic or anything but realistic, has such a message towards achieving your dreams, I couldn't help but find it irresistible and just old-fashioned wish fulfillment whimsy which hit all the right buttons with me. Yep, I was hooked, line and sinker. The rocket in the barn and the mission control center are beauties of junkyard assembly. Anchored by a sincere BB Thornton, with able support from Madsen as the wife who goes through a roller coaster of emotions along with her husband, and the little family that adores their pop and believes wholeheartedly in his dream, this film gives us the satisfying finale we might not consider realistic but nonetheless exciting. You even get some suspense when BB is up in space thanks to a disconnected plug (!) that cuts off communication. Of course the FAA disavows the launch as if it didn't happen. The "despite the odds" American dream concept is a winning formula and this film plays that up to perfection.

Jesus EFFINCHRIST This movie sucks. I decided to watch this hoping to see an interesting flick about an amateur astronaut, but what do I end up seeing in my movie box? A pathetic, idiotic family that live on sentiment and daydreams that would never work. The whole point of the movie is that dreams will get things done. But that's not true. Dreams do nothing, doing things gets things done. Farmer would have never been able to build the rocket. Period. Judging from his whimsical character, he didn't have a practical side to him. He had no scientific basis behind anything he was doing. For example, deciding to switch fuel types, and saying "I think it will work". Or something to that effect...Plainly said, the scientific terminology in this movie was non-existent, and what the writers did put in was so thinly stretched it made no sense at all.When the rocket shot out like a flying sausage across the Texas landscape, it shouldn't have. In a real accident in such a case, the rocket would have exploded right there in the barn and blew the bleep out of the cows, the house, the media, and started a wildfire.There is no way he could have recovered the rocket from that accident, even if he would have survived. Then to think his idiotic family would find a way to rebuild it is beyond me. None of the characters in this movie had any sense of reality at all, and even though they use some key words to make less educated viewers think that they know "science" it is obvious they don't have any clue what they are talking about.I'm all for people building rockets and going into space and stuff. Actually, it is my passion. I study physics and astronomy and I really hope that more and more people get to go into space. This is why I cannot help but point out the unbalanced sentiment(90/10)science aspect of this movie. Adding to that, the whole reason why he wanted to go into space was just to go. He didn't have any plan for doing any sort of scientific activity up there. That is the way to get funding. Of course he's going to look like an idiot.Base line, if you are thinking of watching this movie in hopes of seeing anything remotely related to real science and amateur space exploration, pass this one on by. The makers of this film definitively made it to market to people with limited knowledge of how science works, and play entirely on "family element" and emotions. There is nothing else to this movie. A little interesting orbital CGI, but not worth waiting for.

atanas_n1-1 i was unsure whether to watch this or not, for its description sounded cheap and uninspired to mei'm glad i didthe story about an farmer (with an astronaut training) who dreams about launching his own rocket and visiting space surely sounds strange but this story is told so beautifully and unpretentious ... i just had to love itand this is just the story on the surfacein fact this movie is about dreams and about the courage to live them, about love and family, about people staying true to one selves ...very well acted and very well written it works with realistic characters in realistic (yes, they are, even if the plot sounds strange) situations and moved me deeplysee it if you can